Using Strings - Page 4

In the previous page, I finished explaining the part where the data was divided into separate variables. I also provided a brief explanation as to why we use so many variable names when dealing with strings in the first place.

Now, we are ready to add the commas to separate our digits. For example, a number such as 65536 should look like 65,536. The trick lies in knowing just when to start adding a comma. There are several ways to tackle this problem. The easy way is to add commas by traversing your string in a right-to-left direction.

Add the following colored code to do just that:

dollarParser = function () {

var input:Number = 1567.5644;

var inputString:String = input.toString();

var decimalIndex = inputString.indexOf('.');

var centString:String = inputString.substring(decimalIndex, decimalIndex+3);

trace(centString);

var dollarString:String = inputString.substring(0, decimalIndex);

//

var finalString:String = "$";

var count:Number = 0;

var tempString:String = "";

for (var i:Number = dollarString.length-1; i>=0; i--) {

count++;

tempString += dollarString.charAt(i);

if ((count%3 == 0) && (i - 1 >= 0)) {

tempString += ",";

}

}

};

dollarParser();

In the above code, in the for loop, I move backwards through our string:

for (var i:Number = dollarString.length-1; i>=0; i--) {

I start at the end of our input by setting the count variable i to equal the last character of our string (dollarString.length-1) and I keep looping until our counter, i, becomes less than 0. I approaching zero is the same as you reaching the leftmost, first character in our word list.

We want to add a comma after three characters. The easiest way of doing so is to have a counter that increments and does something when its value becomes a multiple of 3. You can do that using the % (modulo) operator:

if ((count%3 == 0) && (i - 1 >= 0)) {

tempString += ",";

}

Every time the count variable stores a number that is a multiple of three, our tempString character gets a , comma added. Our tempString variable, at the end of the loop, contains the properly formatted dollars.

My if statement actually contains two conditions. The first condition checks for multiples of threes. The second condition checks to see if there is a number after your current position. This ensures that, given a number such as 125, you do not end up with a comma preceding it, for example - ,125.

Now, all we need to do is take our tempString data and insert it into our finalString variable that currently only contains the $ sign. Add the following colored lines of code to your existing code:

dollarParser = function () {

var input:Number = 1567.5644;

var inputString:String = input.toString();

var decimalIndex = inputString.indexOf('.');

var centString:String = inputString.substring(decimalIndex, decimalIndex+3);

trace(centString);

var dollarString:String = inputString.substring(0, decimalIndex);

//

var finalString:String = "$";

var count:Number = 0;

var tempString:String = "";

for (var i:Number = dollarString.length-1; i>=0; i--) {

count++;

tempString += dollarString.charAt(i);

if ((count%3 == 0) && (i - 1 >= 0)) {

tempString += ",";

}

}

for (var k:Number = tempString.length; k>=0; k--) {

finalString += tempString.charAt(k);

}

};

dollarParser();

The above code cycles through our tempString, takes each character from it by using the charAt method, and adds it to the end of our finalString variable.

Note

Doesn't it seem inefficient to have two for loops that essentially cycle through the characters in a string? Yes, it is! The reason I use two for loops is because it is difficult to gauge the length of our tempString string prior to the commas being added. Therefore, adding values to our finalString after tempString has been properly populated with numbers and commas makes sense.

A better method would be to create an insert function that inserts the commas into the appropriate location on the string, but that is well beyond the scope of this tutorial.

There are more efficient ways, of course, but this tutorial is primarily focused on Strings. I don't want to introduce any more confusing conventions - at least not intentionally =)

At this point, tracing finalString will result in $1,234,567 being displayed. That's not bad, but we need to incorporate the cents information we dealt with earlier! The final two lines of code do that and finish up our re-creation of code I presented at the beginning of this tutorial:

dollarParser = function () {

var input:Number = 1567.5644;

var inputString:String = input.toString();

var decimalIndex = inputString.indexOf('.');

var centString:String = inputString.substring(decimalIndex, decimalIndex+3);

trace(centString);

var dollarString:String = inputString.substring(0, decimalIndex);

//

var finalString:String = "$";

var count:Number = 0;

var tempString:String = "";

for (var i:Number = dollarString.length-1; i>=0; i--) {

count++;

tempString += dollarString.charAt(i);

if ((count%3 == 0) && (i - 1 >= 0)) {

tempString += ",";

}

}

for (var k:Number = tempString.length; k>=0; k--) {

finalString += tempString.charAt(k);

}

finalString += centString;

trace(finalString);

};

dollarParser();

The following line sticks the data from our centString variable to the end of our finalString variable:

finalString += centString;

When our output for finalString complete, the trace command will output the following number:

$1,234,567.56

And with that, you now have a rudimentary decimal number parser. It is not fully feature complete, and there are situations where you can break the program easily. Try entering in non-numerical data such as letters and see what happens, for example :-P

But, for the sake of understanding how to use strings and the String class's methods in Flash, I hope this tutorial helped.

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